Astonishing

Exodus 16:1-20
2 Peter 3:8-13
Joel 2:12-13

“Be patient, be patient,
Don’t be in such a hurry!
When you get,
Impatient,
You only start to worry.
Remember, remember,
God is patient, too!
And think of all the times that others
Had to wait on you!”

My mama is a singer; as such, my entire life has been like one big musical. The little song above was just another little ditty my mom used to sing when impatience filled the scripts of our lives. This song can be found in scenes when we were stuck in Las Vegas traffic in 100-degree weather, or when I was anxiously waiting for my cousins’ arrival to play.
Now, in an entirely new act, I sing this song to my daughters.

But sometimes, even as I sing, I don’t feel so patient.
Sometimes I sing with gritted teeth, or after biting my cheeks to keep from saying something I shouldn’t. Sometimes, I begrudgingly sing it to my daughters with a cheery smile plastered on my face, my forced enthusiasm convincing my heart to actually be patient.

Patience, I’ve learned, isn’t just “waiting for the pot roast to be done” or “for your nails to dry” (although both have definitely grown my patience massively).
It also means long-suffering.
Excruciating “waiting for your adult child to come to Jesus”, or even
“persevering and fervently praying in the midst of turmoil and grief”.

Patience looks much like waiting on the Lord and His timing.

Maybe He’s called you to do something….
become a missionary,
start a ministry,
find a new job,
adopt,
or move,
and then He told you to wait.

Patience.
Long-suffering, nail-biting, gut-wrenching patience.

Because our God is gracious, never asking us to do what He would not, we find His loving patience everywhere.

The Old Testament speaks often of God being slow to anger like in Exodus 34:6-7 when God reminded Moses of His patience towards stubborn Israel and her disobedience.

Before saying, “Enough!” and nearly wiping out all of humanity with a flood, God literally waited over 4,000 years for hearts to repent!

In Numbers 14:18, Moses recounted again how Israel was saved from utter destruction, even though she clearly deserved it, because of the Lord’s long-suffering patience.

When Israel, freed from slavery in Egypt by the mighty hand of the Lord, grumbled and complained, “But, Yaweh! We’re hungry and starving and it would’ve been better for us to just be slaves!”

God lavishly poured out heaps of patience and love by giving them fresh, flakey bread (manna) and quail (what a delicacy!) every single day! Through the waiting, He taught them dependency on Him, teaching them to trust His daily provision.
They grumbled and complained and His response was gracious patience and provision!

When David, the young boy appointed King of the Israelites was finally made King, he had an affair and then murdered that woman’s husband!
The Lord’s response?
Loving Patience.
God had every just right to kill David, or at least remove him from the throne, for his grievous sin, but because God is lovingly patient, He sent a prophet to come alongside David, reveal his sin to him and allow David to repent!
God’s patience brought loving discipline to King David, one God called “a man after God’s own heart.”

From the moment sin entered this world through Eve and Adam, God’s great plan for redeeming mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was already set in place. For its fullness to be completed, the Lord w a i t e d with long-suffering patience

And Oh!
The patience displayed by our Savior as He allowed Himself to be tortured beyond recognition then hung on a cross to die a long and excruciating death where He slowly suffocated hour by hour.
His shredded back scraped the rough wood of the cross each time He raised Himself up to catch a breath. His head throbbed from the thorns piercing into His skull.
He spent hours dying by the worst form of death in human history, intentionally allowing Himself to fully feel the agony, not hurrying His death sentence as He, the Author of life and death itself, could easily have done. He gave His life for you and me.
Patience even in death.

Astonishing.

I took a nap with my daughters this afternoon, praying as I fell asleep for Lord to speak to me about a situation in my life. Instead, I heard Him talking to me about His patience in a way I’d never considered.
God’s love for me is individualized.
It is a passionate love uniquely for me, just as His love for you is uniquely crafted to meet you. His love cannot be measured, it looks different for every person.
The love I have for my three daughters is special and intimate for each of them. Similarly, God’s love for us is just as individualized and special.
God delights in you and in me and He loves having a personal relationship with us where He loves us each in our own, special way. How great His love for us that He would patiently wait millennia for us to choose to know Him intimately! His heart is for all to choose Him! (2 Peter 3:9)

Love is patient.
Because God is patient.

Patient Love weaves together 4,000 years of events, inspiring 40 different authors to write words that all point to One Redeeming Savior.

Patient Love teaches disciples, followers, curious onlookers, and malicious people about the Father and His redemption while delivering people from sin and disease and performing miraculous wonders along the way.

Patient Love endures grotesque abuse, taking a guilty punishment of death, though innocent, in order to rescue beloved children who rightly deserve wrath.

Patient Love rises from the dead, forever defeating Sin and Death by His victorious life!

Patient Love walks with me in the most dire of circumstances when I’m being pushed, stretched, and pruned, even when it all feels out of my control.

Love is patient.
And God is love.

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